Earthquakes in the World Today
There are around 500,000 earthquakes each year. 100,000 of these can actually be felt.
The world’s deadliest recorded earthquake occurred in 1556 in central China. It struck a region where most people lived in caves carved from soft rock where dwellings collapsed during the earthquake, killing an estimated 830,000 people.
The largest earthquake ever recorded was a magnitude 9.5 in Chile on May 22, 1960.
Earthquakes today USA
Each year the southern California area has about 10,000 earthquakes. Most of them are so small that they are not felt. Only several hundred are greater than magnitude 3.0, and only about 15-20 are greater than magnitude 4.0 From 1975-1995 there were only four states that did not have any earthquakes. They were: Florida, Iowa, North Dakota, and WisconsinThe second-largest earthquake ever recorded struck Alaska’s Prince William Sound in 1964. The magnitude 9.2 quake killed 128 people, most by the resulting tsunami. In some places, the ground was uplifted almost 38 feet, and in others it dropped more than seven feet. The tsunami reached heights of around 220 feet locally, and killed 11 people 1,650 miles away in Crescent City, California.
Earthquakes today Japan
The strongest earthquake that ever struck Japan was on March 11, 2011. This 9.0 magnitude quake triggered a 33 feet/ 10 metre Tsunami which caused massive destruction in the north-eastern part of Japan.
The deadliest earthquake is the 1923 Great Kanto- earthquake. It struck the Kanto- plain on the Japanese main island of Honshu- on September 1, 1923. Varied accounts hold that the duration of the earthquake was between 4 and 10 minutes. The Kanto- quake killed between 100,000 and 140,000 people. The quake had a magnitude of 7.9 on the Richter scale.
Earthquakes today Europe
Earthquakes are widespread in the Europe. The most destructive events occurred in the Mediterranean countries, particularly Greece, Italy and Turkey, which are in the collision zone between the Eurasian and African crustal plates. Albania and Romania have experienced major earthquakes. Smaller earthquakes are felt by other nations, although there is generally little damage.
In the last 15 years, thousands people have died in earthquakes. In 1980, a terrible earthquake struck southern Italy, killing 4,580 people and leaving 250,000 homeless. More recently, in 1995, tremors shook the Greek region of Grevena and, in 1997, an earthquake in Assisi caused extensive damage and human suffering. In 1999 the Istanbul earthquake killed 17,118 people, injured 50,000 and left 500,000 homeless.
Earthquakes today Indonesia
Indonesia is in a very active seismic zone and is the country with the most earthquakes.
On Sunday, December 26, 2004, the west coast of Sumatra was hit by one of the largest earthquakes ever recorded. The earthquake with a magnitude between 9.1 and 9.3, triggered a series of devastating tsunamis along the coasts of most landmasses bordering the Indian Ocean, killing over 230,000 people in fourteen countries, and inundating coastal communities with waves up to 30 meters (100 feet) high. It was one of the deadliest natural disasters in recorded history.
New Zealand, New Guinea and the Pacific Region – all are suffering regular quakes of magnitude 5.00 and over with New Zealand unable to recover from devastation caused by early 2011 quake in Christchurch.
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